NCAA Quarterfinal Ticket Presale Tops 5000 for Indy, Under 1000 in College Park

As of Tuesday, Sunday's NCAA Quarterfinal at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis had pressed 5,500 tickets and Saturday's presale at Byrd Stadium in College Park, Md., had pressed 865 tickets, the NCAA released to Inside Lacrosse Wednesday.

Additionally, as of last Friday the NCAA had sold 18,284 all-session passes for NCAA Championship Weekend, and 1,980 single-day tickets as fans prepare for Memorial Day weekend at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

The ticket information comes on the heels of an NCAA DI Tournament first round that saw attendance average roughly 200 fewer people per venue than in 2012.

The news regarding Indy's ticket sales is promising as an NCAA men's lacrosse tournament event heads to Lucas Oil Stadium for the first time. Midwest fans will be able to see the seemingly annual reunion of Duke-Notre Dame and North Carolina-Denver, a repeat of an epic first-round matchup last season. The location doesn't just give a new opportunity to Midwest college lacrosse fans, but its proximity to NCAA Headquarters, which are also in Indianapolis, may yield some additional exposure for the sport to NCAA employees who don't frequently see the game live.

However, the College Park attendance prospects were dealt a significant blow Sunday as Cornell knocked off the host Maryland Terrapins. The Big Red plays Ohio State and Syracuse takes on Yale in the other matchup in a Saturday affair that coincides (and potentially competes) with the Preakness in Baltimore.

Last year, 13,390 fans showed up at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium on Quarterfinal Saturday for Denver-Loyola and Johns Hopkins-Maryland.